Avast blog:

A total of 134 fleeceware applications have been identified by Avast on the Apple App Store.

Sensor Tower data estimates a total of 500 million downloads of these applications. It also estimates that the applications have brought in $365 million in revenue in their lifetime.

And:

Another solution could be subscription payment confirmation. If the user accepts a free trial, the app could require another confirmation before paying money for the actual subscription once the free trial is over. In this scenario, the app’s functionality would stop until the user pays the required fee. This would give the user direct control over subscription payments and allow them to make a fully informed decision on continuing with the subscription.

This seems a great solution to me. Require a confirmation from the user at the moment a free app transitions to a paying subscription. That confirmation alert should make the costs clear.

From the blog post, here’s a list of iOS Fleeceware apps.

If they can build this list, why can’t Apple?